My personal growth as a blogger: 4 lessons I learned

As a blogger, you are not only growing online, measured by your blogging stats, but you are also growing as a person. I started my blogging adventure in 2019 and I can safely say that I have never been more challenged in life as I have been on this journey. As a blogger, you’re going through real ups and downs and if you prefer to shy away from confronting yourself and practicing self-reflection, then blogging is not for you. 

My pre-blogger life

Before I started blogging, I spent a very long time searching for myself and for that particular passion in life that would bring me real happiness. I worked in the office life for years and although this was fine for the first couple of years, at some point it really started to wear on me. I didn’t at all fit in, in a workplace like that. This was not the way for me to earn a living and be happy at the same time.

For quite a long time I felt unhappy in life because I hadn’t found my path to happiness yet. Thanks to my blog, that has changed completely. 🙂

Blogging is where my passion lies, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. 

In another blog post, I have already described what I have learned from blogging when it comes to business skills. In this blog, I’ll tell you all about how I’ve grown on a personal level thanks to my blog.

Accept myself the way I am

As a true introvert, I have always tried to adapt myself to the outside world. I was told that it was not okay to be an introvert and that it was something you needed to work on as a person. I have heard this statement several times in different ways, for example at work, ‘you should just give more presentations, then you will get over your fear of speaking in front of large groups, ‘Angie, why can’t you come to sit closer to your colleagues more often instead of always isolating yourself?’.

For me, a social work environment, in which you have to be constantly present, played a big role in the eventual depression/burnout I went through back in 2017. I was never able to be myself there. The constant need to adapt myself socially cost me way too much energy. But since I always felt like this was the norm, I also found it very difficult to accept myself as I am.

I felt like I needed to change in order to fit into such a work environment. Ever since I started blogging and making my money online, I feel so much better. I can be myself and now have the ability to schedule my time the way I want. If I really need to recharge or don’t want to be around people, I can. This has helped me to feel so much better about myself, and it also helped me to understand that it’s okay to be me, exactly as I am. 

Making myself visible online

Before I started blogging, I was so afraid to be visible online. Ideally, I wanted to fade into the background and be completely invisible at certain times. When I started blogging and influencing, I kept this up for a while. I thought I could be successful without showing myself (on social media). 

Little by little I found out that I had to leave my comfort zone. It started with my About Me page. Then I created a Pinterest account with a photo, linked to She Can Blog. What if people I know would see it and think something of it? Isn’t showing yourself online just for people who want attention? 

By now I have managed to let go of many limiting beliefs on this subject and I’m perfectly fine with putting myself out there. Sure, I’ll never be the most extroverted person who pops up on numerous Instagram stories a day, but the fact that I’m out there posting a Boomerang of myself every few days is real growth to me. 

Also read: how to make your website accessible for people with visual impairments

My voice matters

When I just started blogging, I had this fear that no one would want to read my blogs, but fortunately, I can now say that I have a pretty decent fan base of followers who like my way writing style and read most of my blogging tips. This is exactly the reason why I started my blog!  

I’m sharing all my knowledge for free in my blogs and a fair amount of work goes into this. Especially since I mainly write tutorials about blogging, social media, and making money online, I need to do research for most of my blog posts and to do some fact-checking, and add a few images to the tutorials as well.

Every time one of my readers tells me they love reading my blogs and that they are implementing all my blogging and Pinterest tips, I feel so happy. It is so rewarding to be able to help people move forward with their blogs! Even though it’s not paying itself off right away, it’s still worth it for me to be able to spread my knowledge this way.

Also read: 13 ways to gain Instagram followers (without following back)

There’s nothing I can not learn

As a blogger and online business owner, you are – especially in the beginning – often carrying out a variety of professions on your own. You’re your own social media marketer, influence marketer, customer service rep, web designer, accountant, manager, SEO worker, and copywriter. And most of it I’ve taught myself over the years.

I can truly say that I have never learned as much in my life as I have in these past few years because in addition to becoming a blogger and business owner, I also became a mother during the same same time period.

Final Thoughts

It’s not something I reflect on regularly, but now that I have summed it all up in one post, I realize that I have grown tremendously since becoming a blogger. I’ve grown as a business owner and blogger, but I’ve also experienced real personal growth because of blogging. 

In case you’re also considering becoming a blogger or influencer, you should know that there will be many highs and lows ahead of you. It’s a tough journey, but one I recommend to everyone. 

*Disclaimer: this is a sponsored post